Lady Trojans get big victory over Clopton

Community R-VI varsity girls basketball head coach Bob Curtis said the Lady Trojans had not defeated Clopton on the road in five years since their 68-60 EMO Conference Championship match-up in 1997.

The Lady Trojans broke that streak on Monday, December 17 when the squad beat the Lady Hawks in a 56-54 thriller after Paige Curtis sunk a final-second, game winning bucket, sealing the win.

Clopton led 17-10 after the first quarter but Community R-VI came back to win the second quarter 14-10, still trailing 27-24 at halftime. The Lady Trojans posted 17 points in the third quarter to tie the game at 41. Community R-VI closed the contest 15-13 for the win.

“You cannot beat a great program like Clopton with one or two kids having a good night, it has to be a team effort,” Curtis said.

Curtis, with nine rebounds, and Paige Harris posted 13 points each for the Lady Indians; Danielle Brooks tallied 12 points with three assists and four steals; Emmalee McCoskey posted 11 points with six rebounds; Mia Knipfel added five points; and Ashley Steele scored two points.

“Seniors Curtis and Harris were huge down the stretch scoring 20 points combined in the second half and pulling down 10 boards during those two frames,” Curtis said. “McCoskey was great on the glass pulling down six rebounds and tossing in 11 points. Finally, freshman point guard Brooks was tremendous handling the full-court pressure of Clopton and contributing 12 points to the cause. She has a great future ahead of her and I cannot wait to see the player she is going to develop into over the next three years.”

The win over Clopton put the Lady Trojans at 3-0 on the season in the EMO Conference and 6-1 overall for the season.

Community R-VI faced Cairo in the first round of the Madison Tournament on Thursday, December 20 after an early holiday press time.